Treatment of recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with low doses of interleukin-2 injected perilymphatically.

Ten patients with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck received daily injections of interleukin-2 (IL-2) from the Jurkat T-cell line purified by high pressure liquid chromatography for 10 days. Two hundred units of IL-2 in 0.5 ml were injected 1.5 cm from the insertion of the sternocleidomastoid muscle on the mastoid. When possible, courses were repeated at 45-day intervals. IL-2 was ineffective in two patients who had already undergone functional or radical neck dissection. By contrast, in six patients with contralateral or bilateral cervical lymph nodes, complete or partial disappearance of the tumor was observed. The injections were occasionally followed by moderate local swelling and lymph node pain, but no systemic disturbances.